Week #5--Sign Inventory for “My Father’s Love Letters” by Yusef Komunyakaa

The first letter of each line is capitalized.

The ampersand replaces “and”

“quiet brutality” in line 19 has two meanings

Enjambment disguises complete sentences throughout the poem, making it seem disconnected like the speaker’s parents.

Verbs like “beg,” “promising,” “[l]ost,” and “redeemed” contrast stronger images portrayed by “bulged,” “[l]ooped,” “coiled,” “[p]ulled,” “balled,” and “[l]aboring.”

“Words rolled” contrasts the father’s inability to speak or write.

No rhyme scheme at all. Contractions make language seem colloquial.

Written in past tense, as if speaker is telling about his childhood and speaking for his father at the same time, so as to bring him into the present for redemption.